THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[SEt’T.  2,  1895. 
196 
The  Cacao  Cuop— now  setting  in  tlie  Matale 
and  other  districts  is  likely  to  be  late  through 
the  cIVect  of  the  [trolonged  drought.  It  is  pos- 
sihlc  that  the  harvesting  may  not  take  i>lace  till 
January,  so  making  a considerable  dift'erence 
in  the  exports  of  cacao  for  this  year. 
Coffee  Cultivation  at  Poet  Dickson. — During  June 
Mr.  B.  M.  Lumsden  arrived  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
up  his  concession  of  2,000  acres  of  land  at  the  11th 
mile  on  the  railway  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  cof- 
fee, and  the  survey  has  since  been  completed  ; clear- 
ings for  three  nurseries  have  been  made  and  extensive 
felling  of  jungle  is  to  be  started  in  September  next. 
Mr.  Lumsden  is  expected  to  return  in  November  from 
England. — Pinang  Gazette. 
Crekn  Bug  on  Coffee  and  Lady  Beetle.s. 
— We  regi'et  to  learn  from  Mr.  Bagot,  whose 
letter  appears  elsewhere,  that  so  far,  Mr.  Green’s 
enterprise  in  indenting  for  the  lady  beetles— 
(said  to  be  the  special  enemy  of  the  bug  insect  on 
the  orange  trees  and  expected  to  do  the  same 
wood  seriuce  on  coffee)— has  not  met  with  success, 
^he  beetles  eh  ordered,  all  arrived  dead,  through 
being  imt  into  pill-boxes  without  any  air  holes. 
We  slmuld  have  expected  the  State  Board  of 
Horticulmre,  California,  to  have  understood  better 
how  to  .send  such  insects  on  a long  voyage. 
We  trust  the  next  attempt  may  jnove  a full 
success,  botli  for  Mr.  Green’s  sake  and  for  that  of 
our  remaining  holders  of  collee  upcountry. 
OVERPnODUCTiON  OF  Tka.— Mr.  J.  Berry  White, 
Chairman  of  the  Jokai  Tea  Company,  hail  .some 
caustic  remarks  about  his  neighbours  in  his  ad- 
dress at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Company:— 
In  our  report  we  refer  to  this  in  the  paragraph 
regarding  the  market  price  during  the  last  year, 
w'hich  was,  on  the  whole,  very  favourable.  The  firm- 
ness of  the  market  was  no  doubt  in  a great  measure 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  yield  was  several 
million  pounds  under  what  was  expected.  In  the 
current  season  an  increase  of  nearly  20,000,000  lb, 
is  expected  from  India  and  Ceylon.  This  increase, 
I have  no  doubt,  will  be  absorbed,  but  at  the  cost 
of  a fall  in  the  average  sale  price  of  all  low  and 
medium  class  teas.  I do  not  expect  the  special  teas 
of  Darjeeling  and  of  Upper  Assam  will  be  much 
affected,  as  they  have  particular  qualities  w’hich  can- 
not be  produced  elsewhere;  so  the  loss  will  fall  on 
what  I regard  as  the  chief  sinners  in  causing  over- 
production—the  Indian  districts  of  the  Dooars  and 
Sylhet  and  the  Island  of  Ceylon.  I have  spoken  in 
a somewhat  pessimistic  tone  of  the  consequences  of 
this  over-production.  I hope  you  will  not  misunder- 
stand me  : I have  no  fear  whatever  for  the  future 
of  our  properties.  We  have  been  looking  forward  to 
some  crisis  consequent  upon  over-production  for 
some  time  past,  and  have  been  putting  our  house 
in  order.  We  have  now  our  properties  so  fully 
equipped  with  labour,  machinery,  buildings  and  trans- 
port that  after  this  year  our  expenditure  must  bo 
very  much  less,  and,  notwithstanding  the  heavy  out- 
lay on  bctierments,  we  have  kept  the  capital  cost 
per  acre  of  our  cultivation  at  about  £40.  I do  not 
apprehend  that  there  will  be  any  reason  for  reducing 
our  dividend  in  future  years,  unless  the  crisis,  when 
it  comes if  it  ever  does  come— be  of  a much  more 
severe  and  far-reaching  character  than  there  is  any 
reason  at  present  to  expect. 
Mr  Alex.  liaurie  of  tlie  Jhanzie  Tea  A.ssociation 
It  the  annual  meeting,  wa,H  more  genial  :— 
Before  making  the  proposal  to  adopt  the  report, 
let  me  impress  on  our  shareholders  the  great  advant- 
age that  would  arise  to  the  tea  industry  generally 
if  evervone  interested  in  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  would 
combine  to  promote  an  increased  demand  for  these 
teas.  If  everyone  would  only  help  a little  by  writing 
to  friends  in  America,  Canada,  and  similai  places, 
urging  the  advantages  offered  by  the  use  of  Indian 
and  Ceylon  teas,  in  preference  to  the  weaker  teas 
from  China  and  Japan,  the  aggregate  of  good  to  the 
industry  would  be  immense, 
Kola  Nut. —As  of  general  intere.st  to  the  culti- 
vators of  Kola,  we  readily  give  a place  to  the 
following  information  sent  us  by  Mr.  Philip, 
Kandy  : — 
“Our  foreign  agents  write  under  date  25th  Juno, 
1895  as  follows : — ‘ You  will  have  to  be  very  careful 
to  see  that  you  do  not  plant  or  distribute  what  is 
known  as  ‘ Sweet  Kola,’  that  is  the  seed  that  has 
four  or  five  cotyledons  and  divisions  in  it,  as  it  is 
most  difficult  to  do  anything  with  it.  The  seed  is 
principally  sold  in  powder  to  adulterate  the  ordinary 
‘ Kola  ' {■•iteiTulia  acuminata).  Our  Kola  nut  plants 
are  of  the  true  cultivated  superior  variety.’  ’’ 
Advertising  Ceylon  Tea.— The  Ceylon  tea 
planting  industry  is  regarded  with  great  interest 
l)y  London  journals,  who  are  always  ready  to 
extend  a friendly  lead  to  reports  concerning  it. 
It  reflects  great  credit  on  all  concerned  in  push- 
ing tlie  interests  of  Ceylon  tea  that  the  indus- 
try receives  a remarkable  amount  of  gratuitous 
advertising,  and  this  has  done  a great  deal 
towards  popularising  Ceylon  tea  with  the 
Britisli  public,  who  like  to  have  their  attention 
continually  directed  to  a really  good  thing, 
'riiis  is  what  an  evening  paper  says  : “ Some 
idea  of  the  extent  of  the  Ceylon  tea  industry  may  be 
gatliered  from  the  fact  that  to  produce  last  year’s 
crop  of  exjiortcd  tea  no  less  than  .340,000,000  lb.  of 
green  leaves  were  gathered  from  the  plants,  and 
conveyed  for  the  most  part  on  the  backs  of  the 
jiickers  to  the  factories  for  manufacture.  Last 
year  there  were  about  305,000  acres  of  land  in  the 
island  planted  with  the  tea  shrub,  and  there  is 
every  prosiiect  of  this  acre.age  being  doubled 
within  another  ten  years.” 
The  Indian  Tea  A.s.sociation  in  London.— 
AVe  direct  attention  co  the  able  and  comprehen- 
sive Report  of  the  Conniiittee  of  this  body  for 
the  year  1804-9.5,  as  given  on  our  fourth  page 
today.  “New  Markets”  is  of  course  one  of  the 
most  ini]>ortant  subjects  treated  and  in  this 
“America”  leads  the  way.  The  Committee  is 
extremely  hopeful  of  the  prospect,  due  mainly 
to  the  good  and  persevering  work  of  Mr. 
Blechynden  with  the  comparatively  small  amount 
of  funds  at  his  command.  AVe  read  : — “ AVith 
“ further  energy,  perseverance  and  the  nece.ssary 
“ funds,  the  future  of  Indian  tea  in  North 
“ America  is  novv  assured  but  the  Committee 
call  on  the  planters  for  subscriptions,  so  as  “ to 
“ ))ress  forward  with  vigour  for  one  year  more, 
“ at  leant,  the  work  of  advertising  and  introduc- 
“ ing  the  tea  to  the  American  public.”  Now 
we  consider  this  good  news  to  be  as  im|)ortant 
in  the  interests  of  Ceylon  as  in  those  of  India ; 
and  indeed  our  Planters’  As.sociation  might  well 
pass  a vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Blechynden  and 
liis  Committee  for  the  valuable  solid  advance 
they  have  made  against  the  common  foe,  during 
a period  lost  by  Ceylon  through  prolonged  dis- 
cussion. In  the  re))ort  before  ns  we  have  the 
])roposal  for  “ joint  action”  very  clearly  put  and 
after  reading  the  “ conditions  ” we  are  almost 
as  .sorry  as  the  Committee  that  it  has  fallen 
through.  Two  points  of  importance  were  that 
India  had  to  contribute  as  much  as  Ceylon 
namely  £‘2,500 ; while  it  also  gave  £.5«X)  for  the 
Commissioner  against  £1.000  from  Ceylon  which 
was  to  ha\  e the  selection.  The  scheme  for  work- 
ing, so  far  as  the  heads  in  this  Kejiortgo,  seems 
(juite  a feasible  one.  But  it  is  no  n.><e  regretting 
what  is  bi'yond  our  reach  now,  .and  ive  can  only 
hope  Mr.  Mackenzie  null  do  his  best  in  adver- 
tising, at  b'ood  Shows  and  by  other  means  toacegn- 
tu.ate  and  increase  the  advance  already  m.ade. — 
There  is  a good  deal  more  of  useful  information 
in  the  Report  which  indicates  a great  deal  of  work 
done  on  behalf  not  simply  of  Indian,  but  of  British 
grown  teas. 
